Mumbai: 21-year-old cheats over 1,000 through fake Instagram account

Mohammad Hamza Zaki Anwar, the accused; (right) a screenshot of his instagram account

A Kolkata-based youngster was all set to pursue higher studies in the US and following the process of visa, etc. but the lure of money put him on the wrong track. The Kalachowkie police arrested him on Tuesday for cheating people through his fake Instagram profile, by promising them good returns in just few minutes by investing in crypto currencies. The police said he is suspected to have cheated over a thousand people of lakhs of rupees.

According to the police the accused, Mohammad Hamza Zaki Anwar, posed as an attractive woman with his fake insta profile, crypto_anaisha, and managed to attract 11.K followers in just a few months of creating the profile. Some of his posts offered 14 to 20 times the return on investments of Rs 700 and Rs 900 in just 10 minutes, police said. On Instagram he also posted many videos and photos of people who allegedly got profit, to lure others. The police are investigating who the woman whose picture Anwar used, is.

"Since the investment amount was low, we suspect that many people have not bothered to come forward to register complaints, and the accused took advantage of this low amount and managed to continue duping naïve investors for about 1 1/2 years," an officer from Kalachowkie police station said. The police suspect he has cheated people of lakhs of rupees.

The Kalachowkie police team watched him in Kolkata for 6 days after they found that he used this money for purchasing food, clothes and gadgets online. Anwar is a resident of Biscuit Galli, Khidirpur, Kolkata. The complaint was filed against him on June 23 last year after the complainant lost around Rs 75,000 within three hours.

The investigation

PSI Ram Tupe and a colleague conducted a technical investigation to trace the IP address of the accused's Instagram account, crypto_anaisha. It was found that the accused had used his mobile number for various transactions with companies such as Zomato, Swiggy, Beardo, Dominos, Amazon, and Ekart. The police also found that the accused had ordered food and electronic devices at the same address.

Under the guidance of Senior Inspector Pramod Bhovte, Kalachowkie police formed a team of Investigation Officer PI Sudarshan Chavan, cyber team PSI Ram Tupe, constables Subhash Rasve, Ajay Sawant, Vanraj Palvi, Laxman Nikam and Jay Gadge to nab the accused. The team kept watch on the accused for more than 6 days and after confirmation, arrested him from his residence and seized 11 different mobile phones from him which he used to cheat people. The accused was produced at the magistrate court in Alipore, South 24 Parganas, Kolkata. It granted a transit remand of four days to the Kalachowkie police.

‘Planned to flee to the US'

A police source said, "The accused is a 21-year-old who passed HSC. He planned to flee to the US with the money he collected through this fake account. In the next 2-3 months the accused had planned to go there for higher studies." Senior Inspector Bhovte said, "We have arrested the accused and our team returned with him to Mumbai on Thursday. He is the son of a businessman."

Rs 75k
Amount Anwar cheated the complainant of